L’Épée de Wotan (Miklo)/plot
Biggles and co. are at an airshow/World War Two commemoration at St. Omer in France when Air Commodore Raymond pulls Biggles aside and drives him to the Helfaut Dome at Wiziernes. There he meets a number of senior intelligence officials. They tell him that there have been distrubing rumours that the old German V2 production facility at Dora, near Nordhausen, had been reactivated and that the Russians and East Germans had a top secret missile project codenamed "The Sword of Wotan". They want Biggles and his team to investigate. They are to parachute into East Germany and then infiltrate the factory. A German couple in the area and another informant named Andreas would be their contacts. Biggles gathers his team and proceed to Kassel where they prepare for insertion. They board an Airspeed Horsa glider and are towed by a B-24 Liberator to high altitude where it is released. The glider continues its journey silently above Rudisdorf village where they execute their drop. At the village they meet up with the German couple, Cordilla Schweiger and her brother Reinhold. Reinhold has a job delivering food and equipment to the base at Dora. He hides them in his truck, gets them through the guards and shows them an abandoned entrance in the woods. But all is not as well as it seems. East German troops arrest Cordilla and Reinhold. They question them and, failing to get anything from them which they did not already know, summarily execute them and burn their house down. It begins to look like everything is a trap. Inside Dora, Biggles and co. discover dozens of assembled rockets. On the fuselages they find a strange word: "Prora". Before they can go further with their investigations, they are surprised by an armed East German guard. Fortunately, Andreas, their other contact turns up. He knocks out the guard and leads them to a railway track inside Dora. They must steal a train to make their escape! Outside, the East German guards have been expecting them. They place trucks across the tracks but the train smashes through. With the East German troops now in pursuit, Andreas attempts to disconnect the locomotive from the rest of the trucks. He succeeds but is shot by the pursuing guards. Dying, he gives Biggles an envelope. He says "they" have cheated him. He also tells Biggles not to forget Prora. What is that, Biggles asks. Andreas only manages to mutter "The Wotan Sword. Bomb...." and then dies. Biggles and co. decide to abandon the locomotive to shake off the pursuers. Algy shows something he has retrieved: Andreas' belt. He wants to check something, he tells the others. Biggles and co. make their way to a forest where they were to be picked up. They spot the waiting plane, it's a Polikarpov Po-2 where he could work as a spy. But why did the guards shoot Andreas? It could have been an accident, or it could have been done to authenticate the documents in the envelope Andreas passed to Biggles which didn't look very important. In any case he must have realised he had been double-crossed and, when he knew he was dying, he had mentioned one clue to Biggles: Prora. Biggles and co. now need to get out of East Germany. The Russians and East Germans would be expecting them at the nearby borders, so Biggles decides to move north, deeper into their territory. They steal a farm truck and head north towards Magdeburg where they break into a small airfield. In one of the hangars they find a Russian Polikarpov Po-2 and a Bücker Bü 131. These old biplanes still work and will have to do. Once airborne, Bertie gets the radio working and calls Raymond and tells him Andreas mentioned Prora. Raymond knows the place--an large old Nazi holiday resort now abandoned. He wants them to go there and check it out. But the East Germans have spotted them and they are soon intercepted by a MIG-15 fighter. There appears to be little the two unarmed biplanes can do but Biggles has a plan. Telling Ginger in the other plane to follow, Biggles dives down towards a flock of seagulls. As Biggles plans, the birds take flight and engulf the pursuing MIG, causing him to crash. Biggles' PO-2 has been hit but they manage to glide towards Prora. Near their destination, the PO-2 engine catches fire. Biggles calls Ginger to match speeds and formate above him, allowing him and Bertie to grab on to the undercarriage legs of Ginger's Bückner. Ginger drops the two off low over a river while he lands nearby. After hiding the plane, they proceed towards Prora, heading for the north wing of the long resort complex which appears intact. Near some outbuildings they spot a V2 hidden under tarpaulins and then, inside the north wing, they come across a lab. A panel on a console indicates radioactivity. So that was the secret project--fitting nuclear warheads on the V2 rockets. But there is no time to ponder how the Russians managed to build an atomic bomb. A truckload of East German soldiers arrive outside and soon, a large force of paratroops drop in. They surround the building and lay siege. Biggles and co. set fire to the lab and then grab some weapons which they have found and head for the rooftop. It's a desparate firefight and they cannot hold out for long. It all depends on whether Raymond can pull off another of his tricks. And he does. A Lockheed Ventura approaches and lands on the long rooftop! They clamber on board and the bomber executes a dangerous take-off from the roof under fire. But they are not out of the woods yet. A couple of MIG-15s approach them in pursuit. But Raymond is not out of tricks either: a flight of R.A.F. Vampires turn up and drive the MIG-15s off. Our friends are then picked up by submarine and brought safely back to London where they are commended by the Prime Minister for yet another successful mission. Category:Plot summaries (derivative works)